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Jane Seymour
"Women are put upon much in this world." Jane Seymour 'is Henry's third wife and his favourite in both the series and arguably reality. Jane was unique as a wife in many ways; she was compassionate and showed kindness to everyone, she got Henry's daughter the Lady Mary reinstated at court and she also was the only wife who gave Henry the one thing he wanted most: a son. However, Jane having a son would cost her her life and Henry his queen. Jane was beloved by the entire court and was the most popular queen England had seen since Catherine of Aragon. Henry was in fact courting Jane since March of 1536, and just days after the execution of Anne Boleyn he took Jane as his wife. Jane was Henry's favourite consort due to her giving him a male heir. She was the not the sort of woman that Henry usually liked; how a woman like Jane Seymour became Queen of England is a mystery. In Tudor terms, she came from nowhere and was nothing. Season 2 Henry and his close friend Charles Brandon are at John Seymour's at Wolfhall. Henry sees a female figure standing in the doorway but not coming in, and she is invited in and comes. Henry is besotted by her entrance. This woman is revealed to be John Seymour's daughter Jane. Henry is clearly attracted to her. He and Jane flirt, despite the fact that the King is married and his wife is pregnant. In the next episode Henry participates in a jousting match and has possession of Jane's ribbon. He falls off his horse during the match and is crushed. Anne is told he is likely to die, and collapses into the arms of her close friend Mark Smeaton, the court musician. Henry wakes up and believes he only survived because he had Jane's ribbon. He expresses this to Jane after she walks into his room. She says it wasn't, but he disagrees and says that it was. He invites her to sit on his lap. She feels uncomfortable at first but then settles. The two begin kissing, and Anne Boleyn walks in. She becomes so distressed by seeing Henry kissing Jane that she miscarries a son, much to Henry's fury. He believes his marriage to her was a product of witchcraft and feels justified in taking another wife. He has Anne accused of trumped up charges of adultery, incest and treason, and becomes betrothed to Jane. While she is walking with Henry, Jane voices her request that the Lady Mary, Henry's daughter who was reduced to illegitimacy, be reinstated as heir apparent. Henry takes Jane to the corner and kisses her. She is picking out wedding dresses while Anne Boleyn is getting dressed for her execution. Anne is executed, Henry eats a swan. Season 3 Jane's most prominent role is in season 3. At the beginning of the third season's first episode, Jane is seen waiting for Henry so they can be wed. Henry arrives and they marry. A celebration is held and Charles Brandon's wife Catherine Brandon states that Jane will make Henry happy. Henry and Jane sleep together after the celebration, consummating their marriage. Jane pushes Henry to restore the abbeys, but he reminds her of what happened to the late queen and tells her he loves her more than Anne and Catherine, and she shouldn't spoil it. After this, Jane remains quiet. She has Mary reinstated at court. Henry shows new affection for his daughter after Jane does this, and she and Mary become good friends. Later on Jane has Henry summoned to her chambers and he is distressed, believing something is wrong. However, upon arriving, Henry discovers that nothing is wrong at all and the reason he was summoned is because Jane is in fact pregnant. In the next episode Jane goes into labor, but the birth is long and painful. She gives birth to a son, much to Henry's joy. Henry celebrates the birth of a son, but his joy is cut short as he discovers Jane is sick with puerperal fever. He comes to her bedside and prays to God to save her, but Jane is taken away from him. He mourns at her funeral and stays in isolation for almost an entire episode, broken with grief. Season 4 Jane reappears in the series finale, stating she is not happy with her son young Edward's treatment and that Edward will die young. Personality Jane is compassionate, docile and subservient, however she flirts with the married King while his wife is pregnant. She becomes England's most popular queen upon her marriage to the King, second only to Catherine of Aragon. One of the very reasons Henry loved her so much was because Jane gave him two things he was desperate for: submission, and, more importantly, a son. Jane is kind to her ladies in waiting and was able to take the bitterness out of Jane Rochford, who had been abused by her executed husband, and Jane Seymour appointed Jane Rochford her head lady in waiting. As a person Jane is shown to be affectionate, compassionate, submissive, subservient, kind, loyal and noble, traits Henry admired about her. Jane also tried to mend Henry's relationships with his family and pleaded to have the Lady Mary reinstated at court. Michael Hirst said of Jane: "...here at last, Henry thinks I'm going to marry someone really sweet and nice.' You know, an English rose and he vested her with all these great qualities. She was pure. She was innocent. He felt that he was reborn when he married and part of that was fiction because she did have her own point of view and she didn't like the killing of the people in the North and she tried to raise questions but of course basically he said ' 'to her, '' You know what happened to the last queen so don't go there.' So he thinks he's married a totally different woman - very compliant, very sweet - who is going to give him what he's always dreamed of, a male child, which she does and so his happiness is almost complete but then the script is ruined because she dies..." Physical Appearance Jane was no great beauty. No contemporaries written of her claim she was very attractive, however the series shows an attractive blonde Jane Seymour, portrayed by Annabelle Wallis. In the series Jane is 5"7 and has blonde hair and bluish greeny eyes. She wears the jewelry that all of Henry's queens wore and her costumes change. In season 2 Jane is portrayed by Anita Briem and although Briem and Wallis have different looks, taking a description of their physical appearances would make them sound the same in terms of looks. While being portrayed by Briem, Jane has pale skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, and a turned up nose. Relationships '''Henry - Jane and Henry's relationship initially began as nothing more than flirtation but Henry was clearly very interested in her. Jane later came to reciprocate these feelings, and the two were betrothed while Henry was still with his second queen Anne Boleyn. Jane and Henry were very happily married, and Henry literally loved Jane more than anything in the world. "Luckily" for Jane, she died before the relationship could sour. Henry felt the impact of Jane's death, and remained mourning in his chambers for nearly an entire episode before he took a mistress, Ursula Misseldon, for comfort. Of course, Jane appeared to Henry at the very end of his reign and reprimanded him for not treating Edward right. Henry's last contact with Jane was hostile. Edward Seymour '- Jane's brother, Edward Seymour's relationship with his sister was shown to be positive although he was instrumental in using Jane to improve his father's, brother's and his own social standing. As Queen, Jane did not seem to think she was above Edward and retained her kind nature towards her brother. However, they weren't shown to have a very close relationship like Anne Boleyn had with her brother George. '''John Seymour '- Yet another man who used Jane to improve his social standing, John Seymour's fatherly relationship with Jane was not shown to be aggressive or negative, and Jane was able to have civil conversations with Edward and John Seymour. He appeared briefly, thus their relationship was not explored, but after John Seymour's affair with his son Edward Seymour's wife was discovered, the reputation of the Seymour family was permanently and seriously damaged, and so was Jane's relationship with her father. '''Lady Mary Tudor - Jane became good friends with Mary after getting the princess reinstated at court. Jane was the only one of Henry's wives that Mary truly accepted, apart from her mother Catherine of Aragon. Mary stayed with Jane throughout Prince Edward's birth and kept her promise not to forsake Jane during this time - Jane and Mary cared a lot for each other and Mary stood by Jane's body mourning. Thomas Cromwell - Basically the only person who didn't like Jane, Thomas Cromwell was uncomfortable with Jane's Catholic background and disliked her for this. The two had little interaction. Trivia *Historians believe Jane may have played a part in Anne Boleyn's downfall. For further information on this see Historical Controversies. *Jane may have been subject to a C-section. Like with the above information, refer to ''Historical Controversies ''for further information. *It is well known that Jane was shown favouritism by Henry, as he requested to be buried with her. It is believed Henry's reason for loving Jane so much was because she gave him the thing he wanted more than anything in the world, a son and male heir. Anne Boleyn may also have been Henry Tudor's second favourite wife. In the series Henry is shown mourning for Jane the most. *Jane was the most popular queen of England, second only to Catherine of Aragon, although the place of most beloved queen of England was taken by Elizabeth I. Jane's compassion and kind nature was instrumental in getting the people to adore her. *The character of Jane's actress was changed in season 3. She was initially portrayed by Anita Briem until the actress change to Annabelle Wallis. Briem's reason for leaving the show remains unknown, especially since Jane was only scheduled to appear in four more episodes, but it can be assumed she had other projects in mind. *What historians find fascinating is that Jane was not the type of woman who usually attracted Henry: she was no great beauty, she was not accomplished and in Tudor terms she came from nowhere and was nothing. It is also very shocking and fascinating that Henry her loved the most of all his wives. *Jane was the fifth cousin of the King three times removed. However, this was not acknowledged back then and they married without trouble despite being somewhat distantly related. Marrying cousins was also not looked down on back then. Quotes Behind the Scenes Historical Controversies Appearances *Matters of State *Lady in Waiting *The Act of Treason *Destiny and Fortune *Civil Unrest *The Northern Uprising *Dissension and Punishment *The Death of a Queen *Death of a Monarchy External Links References